Apple Removes Group FaceTime From iOS 12 and macOS Mojave

Sad FaceTime.

Apple has just removed the greatly anticipated Group FaceTime feature from the latest iOS 12 and macOS Mojave betas,  deciding instead to release it at a undisclosed later date.

Group FaceTime is exactly how it sounds, letting a bunch of people – up to 32 – FaceTime video/audio at the same time.

It’s actually been available on iOS 12 and macOS Mojave since the first betas became available in June, but there was no forthcoming reason to have taken it off today, just that  ‘the feature has been removed from the initial releases of macOS Mojave and iOS 12 and will ship in a future software update later this fall.

Bye 32 people FaceTime party, see you in the Fall sometime.

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Facetime Facepalm

Since April 16th people who have devices running iOS 6 have been experiencing difficulty using FaceTime. Apple changed their troubleshooting page to advise updating devices to the latest operating system, but it was thought that the issue would be fixed after a short period of time.

Unfortunately kids, it appears we are just not that lucky. Apple today released a new support document advising that the problems people are experiencing with FaceTime are due directly to a bug which has resulted from an expired device certificate.

No good.

If you are on of those people experiencing the problem, then the only way you can use FaceTime is to update your operating system to the latest version that your device is capable of running.

If your device is capable of running iOS 7 it must be upgraded to iOS 7.0.4 or later, however if your device is incapable of running iOS 7 ( like the iPhone 3GS), you must upgrade to iOS 6.1.6.

Here it is direct from the sauce:

“If you started to have issues making or receiving FaceTime calls after April 16, 2014, your device or your friend’s device may have encountered a bug resulting from a device certificate that expired on that date. Updating both devices to the latest software will resolve this issue.

If you’re using iOS 7.0.4 or later or iOS 6.1.6, this issue doesn’t affect you.

If you’re using these versions of OS X or FaceTime for Mac, this issue doesn’t affect you:

– OS X Mavericks v10.9.2 or later
– OS X Mountain Lion v10.8 with the latest security updates
– OS X Lion v10.7 with the latest security updates
– FaceTime for Mac version 1.0.5 or later for Mac OS X v10.6

While FaceTime does work with iOS 6.1.6, that particular update is not available to recent devices that are able to run iOS 7, which means iOS 6 users with newer devices who wish to access FaceTime must upgrade to iOS 7.”

So… Happy upgrading? We guess? For reals though, it actually is a pretty nice iOS, even though the changes might look a bit scary. Check out our iOS 7 article here. You knew you had to do it eventually, right?  Right? … FaceTime Shots Anyone?

FaceTime not working? This might be why.

If you’re running iOS 6 on your iPad or iPhone, you may have noticed that you’re currently unable to FaceTime. According to a report on Macrumors, multiple people running iOS 6 have encountered the problem and Apple has updated it’s troubleshooting page specifically to advise upgrading to the latest iOS as the number 1 step.

Users who have complained directly to Apple have also been advised to update their iOS as the first troubleshooting step, however it is acknowledged among the tech community that the problem should be a temporary one.

If you don’t want to update your device to the latest iOS, you shouldn’t have to, unless you NEED to do FaceTime shots/ show babies to someone IMMEDIATELY.  Or REALLY SOON.

We totally understand that need, by the way and we plan to be doing one of those today, so we’ll use an ioS 6 device and keep you guys updated as to if and when the issue appears to get fixed!

Images courtesy of Quickmeme.com & Petapixel.com

iPhone: FaceTime Tricks and tips

Facetime is a nice feature of the iPhone 4 and perhaps all of us are quite fond of it. Well, here are some little tricks for you to get the most out of Facetime chat.

Facetime: Video Calls now with more fun

FaceTime has been quite popular among iPhone users for its free and high-quality iPhone –to-iPhone video calls. Though there’s the catch that you need to have good signal strength in a Wi-Fi zone to prevent call dropping, Facetime had been quite popular.

So, we thought of sharing some tricks with you that can spice it up further.

The default mode of FaceTime screen in portrait, now just try by rotating the phone by 90 degrees—you can have your image turned into landscape mode. The one you are calling will see your image turning suddenly. Nice, isn’t it? J Well, by rotating the receiver set in the same way, he or she can get it back right obviously.

Here’s another funny aspect for you. You can even show your family or friends on FaceTime what you are actually seeing at that time. Got confused? Well, we are talking about the camera-switch option from your FaceTime. While on FaceTime chat you can tap on the Camera-Rotation icon from your screen, switching from the default front to the rear camera. With the rear camera in action, even the person you are calling can see what you are seeing in front of you.

You can also do a quick bit of stuff just by changing to another program or even simply tapping the Home button. Well, while the audio contact remains on, the video screen goes black and you can do a bit of work before going back to the call. In the meantime a Green banner would pop-up and stay on the top of the Home Screen to remind you of the ongoing Call.